


Put Down In Words

by tony_starkrogers



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-16 11:07:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13635036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tony_starkrogers/pseuds/tony_starkrogers
Summary: Finn and Rey discover Valentine's Day.





	Put Down In Words

**Author's Note:**

> This year I am celebrating Valentine's Day with one of my favorite ships! This has SO MUCH FLUFF I literally don't know what happened, but I hope you enjoy it! This fic was not beta-read, so all mistakes/typos/etc are my own.
> 
> As always, feel free to leave a comment/kudos here, and you can also come find me on tumblr [@jynserso](http://jynserso.tumblr.com/)

I hope you don’t mind,  
I hope you don’t mind  
That I put down in words  
How wonderful life is  
Now you’re in the world  
\--excerpt from Your Song by Elton John

\---

“Valentine’s Day?” Finn says, raising his eyebrows at Rey skeptically. “I don’t know, don’t you think it sounds kind of morbid? An ancient Earth holiday celebrating the martyrdom of a saint with flowers and candy?”

Rey snorts and rolls her eyes. “Well, if you put it like _that_ ,” she says, “but Jess tells me that’s not the point. It’s all about telling people how you really feel about them.” She gives him a meaningful, knowing look.

“Oh, we are _not_ having this conversation again,” Finn protests, ducking his head to hide the flush he knows is spreading over his cheeks. “For the last time: Poe and I are just friends, that’s all!”

“ _Are_ you now,” Rey says, her eyes bright with amusement. “Funny you should think of him -- I didn’t mention anyone in particular, did I?”

Finn groans and buries his head in his hands. “What do you want from me, woman?” he says. “It’s not like I can just walk up to him and say, “hey Poe, I really like you,” is it?”

“And why not?” Rey asks, and yeah, she’s _definitely_ laughing at him now. “It’s pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that he likes you too. But that’s what makes Valentine’s Day so perfect -- Jess says that a lot of people do it anonymously. It’s a safe way to make a grand declaration without making a fool of yourself, if that’s what you’re so worried about.”

“Now you’re talking,” Finn says. Now that he thinks about it, it would be kind of nice to get an idea of what Poe’s reaction would be before he puts himself out there, because yeah, maybe he does kind of have a bit of a _thing_ for Poe Dameron. And if Valentine’s Day is all about telling someone how you feel about them... Finn smiles as the beginnings of an idea start to form.

“So you’re going to do it, then?” Rey asks, grinning at him. “Jess will be ecstatic -- she says Poe’s been talking about you constantly, driving the all the pilots crazy...”

“Okay, okay, you’ve made your point!” Finn says, rolling his eyes before something makes him pause and give his friend a curious look. Rey is sitting back in her seat looking smug as hell, yes, but she also seems faintly embarrassed, and her cheeks are rather pink...

“Hey, there wouldn’t be another reason why Jess was telling you all about Valentine’s Day, would there?” he asks with pretend innocence, and Rey blushes scarlet.

“Oh, we are _not_ having this conversation again,” she says, and Finn grins as they settle in for another round of good-natured bickering. Unless he’s much mistaken, they’ll _both_ be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year.

***

Poe’s alarm rudely jerks him out of sleep at 0500, just as it does every morning. Poe lies there blinking up at the ceiling for a few seconds before heaving a sigh and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

“Computer, terminate alarm,” he says, stifling a yawn as he shuffles over to the bathroom. “Lights to 50%.”

Poe shrugs off his sleep clothes and takes a quick sonic shower before going back to the sink to splash some cold water on his face. As he brushes his teeth, he considers himself in the mirror.

It’s been almost a year now since the universe had conspired to throw his life into chaos, and things are finally beginning to return to normal. Despite everything that happened to him, he still loves his job, his x-wing still flies true, and he’s still just as passionate about resisting the first order as he ever was, if not more.

If he’s sometimes startled awake by nightmares when memories of the Finalizer creep up on him, it’s okay because Finn is always there to help him through it. Oh, and that’s another new development -- they’re sharing a room now. Poe remembers the day he came back to his quarters to find Finn sitting on his bed, wearing one of Poe’s ratty sweatpants and a soft tee. “I had nowhere else to go,” Finn had explained, looking supremely uncomfortable as he held up his discharge pad from medical. “They said you wouldn’t mind?”

And boy was _that_ the understatement of the century.

In the short time they’ve known each other, Finn has become Poe’s best friend. It’s also one of the worst-kept secrets on the whole damn base that Finn is also the center of Poe’s universe. Poe’s known that he wants more than friendship with Finn for a while now. The thing is, he also knows that Finn has been put through far worse at the hands of the First Order than he can imagine, and he’s not about to risk their friendship by pushing for too much too fast. This... whatever the two of them could be together... it’s one thing he is determined to get right. Poe Dameron has never been one to take his time with anything, ever... but it seems all bets are off when it comes to Finn.

In the meantime, it’s he’s got a hot date in the hangar with the most important lady in his life: his Black One fighter is waiting for him.

Poe gets his flight suit out of his closet and reaches for his helmet. It’s then that he first notices it -- there’s a bit of red paper clipped to the zipper of his suit.

Poe frowns and unfolds it. It’s been cut out in the shape of a heart, and there’s something written across it in large, blocky letters:

 _You look good in your flight suit._  
_I bet you’d look good out of it, too._

Poe snorts at the cheesiness of it, a pleased smile tugging at his lips in spite of himself.

He can’t think why it’s here, though, unless... he glances at his chrono, and suddenly it all clicks into place.

Valentine’s Day.

It’s nearly February 14th, by the old calendar, and Valentine’s Day is a pretty big deal on the base, where they have to take advantage of any excitement they can get. It’s never been a big deal for him, of course... no one had thought him worth the effort. In fact, Poe hasn’t had a Valentine in so long, he’s almost forgotten what it feels like. Now, it looks like his luck is finally changing.

Poe feels the beginnings of hope stirring in his chest. Finn is the most obvious suspect here, of course -- after all, who else would have gotten into their room? It’s just a little unexpected: Poe has always known that Finn is braver than any of them; he just never expected Finn’s bravery to take quite this form.

It _has_ to be Finn, right?

Poe really hopes it’s Finn.

But this is half the fun of Valentine’s Day right? The anticipation that comes before the big reveal?

Poe’s waited this long for Finn -- he can wait a little longer.

***

The notes continue all week.

Poe finds them all over the base: on his console before strategy meetings, on his door in the morning, and once, he even found a little red paper heart stuck on the top of BB-8's dome (the little droid still won't tell Poe who left it there).

Poe finds himself looking forward to them, wondering what it will be this time. Sometimes they're heartfelt, sometimes they're almost embarrassingly cheesy, and sometimes they make him laugh out loud at the surprising wit Poe didn't know Finn had (he's still assuming it's Finn until proven otherwise, don't burst his bubble, okay?)

After a while, people start to notice -- of course they do. Poe thinks Jess looks particularly smug when she catches him smiling down at the heart he'd just found stuck to his toolbox --

_I want to take care of you_

_like you take care of your x-wing._

"Looks like  _someone_ has a Valentine," Jess says, winking at him as she passes by.

Poe glances at the stuffed Ewok she's carrying and raises his eyebrows at her. "And that 'someone' is definitely you," he replies.

"Shut it, Dameron," Jess tells him good-naturedly, and suddenly he's treated to a face-full of fluffy Ewok.

Poe sputters indignantly and glares at her -- Jess just rolls her eyes and grins at him in response.

"So, any ideas who your secret admirer is?" she asks.

Poe purses his lips and glances over to where Finn is sitting by the mouth of the cave, watching the ships return to the base for the night.

As if sensing Poe's eyes on him, Finn looks over and their gazes lock. Finn smiles at him, and it's like he's lit up from within, bright and radiant as the sun. Poe feels his breath catch in his throat, and he feels a familiar swooping sensation in his stomach. It's as exhilarating as flying, it's as inescapable as the pull of gravity in free-fall, it's as terrifying as the depths of a black hole -- once it's got you, there's no going back. But this is Finn, and Poe has absolutely no desire to escape -- he only wants to fall faster, deeper.

Poe smiles back at Finn across the hangar and gives a stupid little wave, and  _oh gods_ , he is definitely  _not blushing_ , he is the best pilot in the Resistance and not some love-struck teenager with his first crush.

Poe groans and looks at Jess helplessly. "I know who I'd  _like_ it to be," he admits, more than aware of how pathetic he must sound.  _Pining, Dameron, really?_

Jess looks like she's trying very hard indeed not to laugh at him. Her lips twitch in spite of herself, and she shakes her head at him. "Yeah, your little 'crush' isn't exactly very subtle, Dameron."

Poe groans and buries his head in his hands. "But Jess, I don't even know if he likes me that way! I mean, we're friends, but he's never said anything... for all I know, he's still into Rey!"

Jess crosses her arms and gives him a very unimpressed look. "Poe, anyone with eyes can see that's Finn is just as completely crazy about you as you are about him. As for him being into Rey... well let's just say I have it on good authority that Rey is interested in someone else."

"Someone else?" Poe says with a frown. Then he notices the way Jess looks pleased and a bit bashful at the same time, a flush working over her cheeks as she clutches her stuffed Ewok a little tighter.

It all clicks into place then, and Poe's grin widens as the realization hits him. "Oh, you little..." he slings an arm around her shoulders and ruffles her hair playfully.

"Anyone with eyes, Poe," she says, rolling her own as she laughs at him. "It's going to be  _fine_ , hotshot."

For the first time in a long while, Poe allows himself to hope that she might just be right.

***

If anything, it gets worse when he's around Finn, because Poe doesn't know how to act around him anymore. 

Part of him just wants to stay close to Finn and smile at him like an idiot, but the part of him that wants to give Finn everything  _he_ wants knows that Finn has  _plans_ , and he doesn't want to take that away from him. Still, he can't resist teasing his friend just a little when Finn asks about his Valentine that night as they're sitting together in the mess hall.

"Yeah, it looks like someone wants me to be their Valentine," Poe says, going for the 'casually puzzled' look. "Any ideas who it might be?"

Finn drops his fork with a clatter and blushes a lovely shade of scarlet under his dark skin. "Me?" he says, giving Poe a vaguely panicked look. "I mean no, I haven't heard anything, why would I?"

Poe smiles at him, fighting the ridiculous urge to kiss Finn's nose and drag his lips down his neck. He settles for pressing his leg companionably against Finn's. You know, in a completely normal, 'friends do this all the time, right?' kind of way.

"I don't know, buddy," Poe says, deciding to go easy on him. "You have a lot of friends here, that's all."

Finn looks startled and disbelieving, like he hadn't even considered the possibility. Then his smile breaks free, open and genuine and breathtaking. "Yeah, I guess I do," he agrees.

Poe stares back at him, suddenly feeling as breathless as though he'd had the wind knocked out of him. He feels something warm unfurl inside his chest like it was always meant to be there, constant and steady as a heartbeat, and if he wasn't sure before, he definitely is now.

 _I'm pretty sure I love him,_ Poe thinks wonderingly.

He's honestly not sure what it should feel like. He's never been in love before -- he's never felt like this about anyone, ever. But Finn has been a first for him in many ways, and this is no exception. 

He tries to catch his breath as they turn back to their food, focusing on the warmth of Finn's leg against his, and the heat of a body so close to his own (and yet somehow never close enough).

Poe Dameron doesn't know what love is, but if this is love, he thinks it was worth waiting for.

***

"Rey, I can't do this!" Finn says as he bursts into Rey's quarters that night.

He doesn't know _what_ is going on any more, he's a complete mess after spending the entire dinner pressed up against Poe's side, and he's wishing that he could just sink into the floor and never be heard from again.

Rey looks up from where she's sitting the floor with BB-8, tinkering with... what looks like something from a ship's engine, but Finn's no expert on ships, that's Poe's job. In fact, Finn doesn't seem to be much of an expert at anything just now.

Rey gives him her sternest  _I-am-a-serious-Jedi-and-you-must-do-as-I-say_ glare.

"Of course you can, Finn," she says. "We've been over this."

Finn groans and flops down beside her. "But what if he says no?"

Rey rolls her eyes. "Then you'll be friends like always -- that won't be  _so_ bad, will it?"

"But what if he never wants to see me again?" Finn asks, throwing himself back to lie on the floor and staring up at the ceiling. 

Rey gives him a sidelong glance as she works. "Finn, this is  _Poe_ we're talking about here," she says. "Do you  _really_ think he would do that?"

There's a moment of silence as Finn considers it. Finally, he sighs and pushes himself off the floor to put an arm around Rey's shoulders.

"When you put it like that, it does sound pretty stupid," he says. As Rey chuckles, Finn looks over to see BB-8 peering at him curiously. The little droid lets out a series of declarative, insistent beeps, and Finn frowns at Rey questioningly. "What did he say?"

"He said..." Rey's lips twitch and she bursts into laughter, her shoulders shaking with mirth. "I'm sorry, I"m sorry... he just said that you and friend-Poe are doing far too much worrying when you could be doing each other instead."

Finn snorts and shakes his head. "He does have a point," he agrees, grinning in spite of himself.

"So..." he says, squeezing Rey's shoulders. "What do you think? Here's to Valentine's Day and no more worrying?"

"Here's to Valentine's Day, that's for sure," Rey agrees, "but I hate to tell you this, Finn -- worrying is forever."

"I should have known," Finn says, sighing dramatically. "Good luck, Rey."

Rey smiles at him, and Finn can't help smiling back -- there's a reason why people call her a ray of sunshine, after all.

"Good luck," she says.

***

When Poe wakes up on the morning of February 14th, he's instantly overcome by a startling burst of excitement that makes him shoot upright in bed and throw off his covers with what he suspects is a rather idiotic grin on his face.

But Finn is nowhere to be seen, and there is no note waiting for him all morning. Poe swallows his disappointment as he shrugs on his flight suit and tries to convince himself that he hasn't scared Finn off -- today is different because it _is_ Valentine's Day, and Finn has a flair for being unpredictable at the most unlikely times. When it comes to Finn, Poe has learned to expect the unexpected.

So he goes about his day like it's any other day, trying to act like he's not ready to jump out of his skin as his whole body feels on fire with a mixture of nerves and excitement.

Flying is brilliant that afternoon, and Poe revels in it -- the somersaulting turns and flips, the rush of the air all around him, the view of the planet below. He's soaring high above the ground, and yet he still feels like he's falling. It's the perfect paradox... and it's exactly the way he feels about Finn.

It's when he gets back to the base that he notices a change in the air. The atmosphere in the hangar is positively _festive_. People are walking around with stuffed animals and heart-shaped boxes, and there's an unusual amount of hugging and kissing going on.

Poe sees with a kind of triumphant satisfaction that Jess and Rey are at the center of it all, locked in a passionate embrace as they kiss in front of the ship they've been working on ever since Rey first arrived.

 _Pilots_ , Poe thinks with amusement, shaking his head at them. Of course Rey's big surprise was going to be a ship.

He, on the other hand, has no idea what Finn's surprise is going to be. He looks around uncertainly, and then his gaze falls on Finn waiting for him with BB-8 in tow, and his heart leaps in his chest.

"Finn!" he shouts, his worries vanishing to nothing as his smile breaks free. And then he's running to meet Finn, and their arms come up to pull each other close, and Poe remembers that it was just like this the very first time, easy and wonderful, and as necessary as breathing.

It's only when Poe pulls back that he realizes that Finn looks flushed and nervous, and that he's clutching a red paper heart tight in his hand. He blushes and steps back.

"Sorry buddy -- pretty sure I just stole your big opening there."

Finn frowns at him. "You don't have to.... never mind. Actually, I should probably tell you that I really like the hugging. All of it. And I really wouldn't mind doing more. With you, I mean. And the thing is, I hope you don't mind, but..." he holds out the paper heart to Poe, who takes the paper almost reverently and turns it over to read what Finn's written on the back.

_You were my first friend_

_and you're my best friend,_

_but I would also like_

_to be something... more._

_Poe Dameron -- be my Valentine?_

"Poe?" Finn asks worriedly after a moment of silence as Poe smiles down at the note (no, the _declaration_ ) with his heart pounding loud in his chest.

 _This is it, Dameron_ , he thinks, hardly able to believe it. _This is the real deal._

"Yes," he says, smiling up at Finn.

"Yes?" Finn repeats uncertainly. "Yes to..."

"Yes to _everything_ , Finn," Poe says, reaching out to pull Finn close.

Their lips meet and Finn's lips feel soft and warm and _amazing_ against his. Poe sighs into Finn's mouth as their tongues tangle, and he can feel Finn smiling into the kiss as he curls his fingers in Poe's hair and _damn_ , Poe could do this for hours.

Someone wolf-whistles nearby, and they break apart, both of them flushed and breathless.

Finn's lips are puffed and slick as he stares at Poe open-mouthed with a rather dazed look on his face.

 _He's beautiful_ , Poe thinks, his breath catching in his throat as Finn smiles at him.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Poe," he says.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Finn," Poe replies, completely unable to keep that stupid grin off his face... that is, at least until his lips become occupied in far more interesting activities.

The world fades away around them... and that was only the beginning of Finn and Poe's first Valentine's Day, with the promise of many more to come.

 

 

FIN


End file.
